Color Mania

This autumn Fotomuseum Winterthur is presenting the exhibition Color Mania – The Material of Color in Photography and Film. The show exhibits film strips, large-format images and original prints, by which the development and history of color as a material in photography and film are illustrated. Works by contemporary photographers and artists Dunja Evers, Raphael Hefti, Barbara Kasten and Alexandra Navratil demonstrate how historical methods are applied today.

Color Mania examines the web of connections and processes of exchange between the media of photography and film, shedding light on the material dimensions of photo and film colors and focusing attention on their fascinating abundance. With a variety of original materials and images created with different color processes, the exhibition offers an introduction to the history of color photography and color film, while also giving visitors an aesthetic experience. Such objects as Technicolor originals, hand-colored glass slides and tinted film strips from polar expeditions, which remain for the most part hidden from the public as fragile archival documents, have their own fascinating material aesthetic.

Yet Color Mania does not just include exhibits related to historical color film and photography. The historical processes enter into a dialogue with works of art by contemporary artists, which demonstrate how these color processes are utilised today and how the material nature of color, as viewed through the prism of technology and cultural theory, is reflected on in current photography and the broader artistic landscape. In this regard, the works by Dunja Evers, Raphael Hefti, Barbara Kasten and Alexandra Navratil amplify certain aspects explored in the exhibition by means of historical documents and objects. The historical realm is connected here to an experimental and reflective approach drawing on a contemporary perspective.

Color Mania, an art and science exhibition, offers an aesthetic experience that allows for different interpretations and approaches that intersect and merge within the exhibition space. More than a purely chronological history of the evolution of color processes portrayed through the historical exhibits and a systematically elaborated timeline, the contemporary works allow visitors to examine the subject from a modern-day perspective, inviting them to re-examine the historical materials in rewind or in a series of flashbacks. An app has also been developed that provides visitors with additional information on the various film color processes.

The exhibition is curated by Nadine Wietlisbach and guest curator Dr. Eva Hielscher and has been developed in collaboration with Prof. Barbara Flueckiger’s research project ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors. Bridging the Gap between Technology and Aesthetics and SNSF Film Colors. Technologies, Cultures, Institutions at the University of Zurich and with support from the SNSF as an Agora project.